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On the morning of 21 July, AD 365, the Eastern Mediterranean was shaken by an earthquake that is generally believed to be the strongest recorded earthquake in the Mediterranean. It probably originated around Crete, Greece, and was followed by a tsunami that hit the Mediterranean coastlines causing many deaths. In Alexandria, tsunami devastation was so severe that the day of the event was commemorated as the "day of horror" for centuries after the event.The earthquake was strong enough to lift parts of Crete by several meters. This upheaval of the island left behind fossil shorelines, which Richard Ott, a scientist...

Traces of tsunami in ancient city of Patara Tuesday, December 27, 2005 ANKARA - Turkish Daily News Archaeologists claim that an ancient lighthouse located in the ancient city of Patara on Antalya's Mediterranean coast might have been destroyed by a tsunami that hit the region in ancient times. The ruins of the lighthouse were discovered two years ago during excavations that are still under way in Patara. Professor Havva Ýþkan Iþýk, head of Akdeniz University's archaeology department, which is conducting studies in the ancient city, said they believed the lighthouse was destroyed by a tsunami since a human skeleton was...